Chutes and Ladders Reading Challenge

GAME OVER! Thank you to everyone who played. We hope you enjoyed the challenge. We will be posting the results of the hidden square prizes below along with your final square. Congrats to all who played since you all read quite a few books and hopefully cleaned up some TBR books.

To quality for a hidden prize square, you must have completed the book for the square you are standing on after today’s roll. In the event that more than one person is on the same square, the winner was selected using random.org

I will be contacting all the winners by end of week. Prizes will ship out by end of month. I’m still waiting on a few items for Keith’s box which will go out shortly. Congrats to everyone.

Grand Prize (Keith): Bookish Box that includes 5 books from your TBR (you submit a wish list and we pick 5 books from there to gift to you) plus lots of extra bookish goodies.

Avid Reader Prize: 7 of you read books every single week for a total of 13 books! I used random.org to select a winner and that winner is… Jessica! Congrats.

10 Hidden Prizes: 10 squares were selected at random as hidden prize squares. On these squares you’ll find a range of prizes including: Book box from Book Riot, 3 month Book of the month club gift subscription (US only, international winners will receive a gift card from book depository to pick their three books), t-shirt from Out of Print, surprise bookish goodie (worth approximately $25), Folio Society book , Literary Candle from Off the Page (our Etsy Store), and several free books.

NOTE: Katie – you tied with Renee for prize on square 48. As a tie breaker you can select one of the following hidden prizes: T-shirt, literary candle, or a free book. Let me know which you would prefer.

YA / LGBT: Lumberjanes 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson – 3.5 stars
The first volume of this Eisner winning graphic novel series introduces us to the 5 girls hardcore lady type who participate in this rather special summer camp. While earning their badges and upholding the spirit of the camp, they encounter monsters and have adventures that reminded me very much of some adventure films. Girl scouts jumbled with Indiana Jones. Fun, but not sure why this would be award worthy. And no clue why this would be tagged LGBT…

Thriller: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch – 5 stars
A man is abruptly jerked out of his life and awakens in a parallel universe where he is not an ordinary family man, but a celebrated genius. So which is the better life? How do the choices we make define our identity? The journey back to try and recapture his own life makes for a gripping read.

British Crime: Seeking the Dead by Kate Ellis – 4 stars
This is the first book in the mystery series around Joe Plantagenet and the first I read by this author. I liked the historical aspects, the spooky component and the characters introduced. I will be back for more.

Nobel Prize winner: The Bluest Eyes by Tony Morrison – 4 stars
Pecola’s biggest wish is to have the bluest eyes – which clashes completely with her very black skin, but represents all that is beautiful and guarantees happiness. The book explores what gives rise to this wish and how a person comes to feel unworthy of love and happiness due to circumstances of race and upbringing.

Your Choice: The Investigation by J.M. Lee – 4.6 stars
The setting: a prison camp in Japan during WW2. A guard is found dead. His young colleague is tasked with finding the murderer and also with taking over his role as the censor. These two roles allow him to uncover layer by layer connections between the dead man and the prisoners, learning as he goes the back story of each of the protagonists, prisoners and personnel, but also their role in the society which is the prison population and the power of books and poetry.

Short Stories: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver – 4 stars
A short collection of very short stories, highlighting moments where love is diminished or is turned to other, darker emotions.

Steampunk: Seven for a Secret by Elizabeth Bear – 3.6 stars
This second entry into the New Amsterdam series takes place in 1938 in a London conquered by the Prussians. Though rather short, it paints a fascinating picture. The focus of the story is not so much on action, but on turning points.

Your choice: The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomaso di Lampedusa – 4 stars
The book paints a vivid picture of life in Sicily at the end of the 19th century by following the life of the patriarch of the Salina family and his family and retainers. This would also work for landscape as character.

Chili’s list
1. The Girl With All The Gifts
2. The Queen Of Tearling
3. The Electric Kool Aide Acid Test
4. The Undoing
5. Hild
6. The Clasp
7. The Glass Castle
8. The Perfect Girl
9. The Virgin Suicides
10. In The Garden Of Beasts
11. The Corrections
12. Speak
13. Pride And Prejudice
14. Class Action
15. The Name Of The Rose
16. A Brief History Of Seven Killings
17. The Bullet
18. Cider House Rules
19. The Other Boleyn Girl
20. The Blind Side
21. House Of Sand And Fog
22. Oliver Twist
23. We Were The Mulvaneys
24. The Godfather
25. The World According To Garp

I love Discworld books, they are such a hoot! In this book Death takes over for the Hogfather on Hogwatchnight and mayhem ensues. Death’s granddaughter Susan, with the help of oh god of hangovers, rescues the Tooth Fairy and helps saves the Hogfather. This was a fast, fun read.

Category: Korean author
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
👍👍👍
The book tells the story of Yeong-hye from three different perspectives, her husband, her brother-in-law and her sister. This book is not for everyone, as somr parts are very graphic violence. I just could not connect with this story. It was a slog to get through and it is only 188 pages.

I found this book fascinating because it gave an inside perspective of Nazi Germany shortly after Hitler came to power. Ambassador Dodd and his daughter Martha have differing views of the Nazi government in the beginning. Martha is in awe of them and defends them while her father sees to growing threat they pose. Dodd tries to warn the US of the looming threat but is ignored. Martha eventually had her eyes opened to the atrocities committed by the Nazis.

Week 4: Debut Novel
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
👍👍👍👍👍
This started out as a 4 for me but the last quarter really nailed it. Set in Vietnam and the US, the story is a confession by the narrator. As a captain in the special police and a communist spy the narrator escapes the fall of Saigon and heads to the US. He continues to spy on his former boss, the general and his allies. He returns to Vietnam to try and save his boyhood friend and ends up captured and sent to a reeducation camp. This book really captures the struggle of the narrator having sympathies for both sides.

Week 5: Children’s Classic
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
👍👍👍👍👍
I really wish I had read this as a child. It was a marvelous book. Anne Shirley is an orphan who is mistakenly sent to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. While they had requested a boy, Matthew and Marilla decide to keep Anne. Anne is an imaginative and talkative child with a knack for mishaps. I really enjoyed this book and now need to read the next one to find out what new adventures Anne will have.

I have not seen this movie but if it is half as good as the book, then it’s a must see. This is such a good story I didn’t want to put the book down and go adult. It is the story of the Corleone family, a major player in the New York Mafia. This was a real page turner for me.

According to the blurbs this was supposed to be humorous. It was not. There was a lawsuit brought against the author by the family who was the basis for the Finch family. The author still maintains that the book is 100% true. That is truly disturbing. The things depicted in the book happening to a thirteen year old boy is horrifying.

This was a strange and trippy book. This took place before I was born, so I had a hard time relating to the mindset of Kesey and the Pranksters. I did find it interesting and well written. But frankly I wouldn’t want to be on the bus.

This book follows the story of Gary Gilmore from his parole from an Illinois prison on April 9, 1976 to his execution in Utah on December 17, 1977. This book raises a lot of questions about the prison system and capital punishment. Was Gilmore destined to fail at fitting in to society because he was too institutionalized. Was it right to execute him? This book will really make you think about these things. It does have graphic violence and language, so it may not be for more sensitive readers.

Librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine coon cat Diesel help solve the murder of a bestselling author. Godfrey Priest returns to Athena Mississippi and his old college to donate his papers and receive accolades but ends up dead instead. This was a cute book and entertained me for an afternoon. Diesel is a cool cat.

This is Mark Twain’s account of his 1867 steamship excursion to Europe and the Holy Land. Twain gives very detailed descriptions of the scenery, churches, cathedrals and other things of intetest. Some of his descriptions of people and places made me chuckle. He is very fond of calling people a**es, including himself.

This was the second Gaiman book I have read, I will definitely be reading more. I learned a lot about science fiction and comics/graphic novels from this book. I think I need to look into these again. I always thought comics were just Batman/Superman/Archies but there is so much more to them. I made notes of authors, books and comics, so I could take a look at a later date.

Week 13: Translated Work
The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Translated by Lucia Graves
👍👍👍

This is the second book in The Cemetery of Lost Books trilogy. It takes place in Barcelona before the events in The Shadow of the Wind. David is a writer who make a deal with the “boss” to write a book creating a religion. Many bad things happen to David’s friends and acquaintances. I didn’t think the story was very believable and was a let down after the first book.

During the sixteenth century, the Sultan commissions the best illustrators in Istambul to create a book using the European styles, but this is not well accepted by the Islam. It’s a story about assasinations and the investigation to find the assasin. Very well written, using different point of views, but to much description that sometimes it becomes very slow and boring.

The author’s memoir, of her marrying and becoming a mother very young, while being part of a high class society during the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua. How she became a Sandinist, who really wanted to free her country, her exile and finally returning to her country.

After a plane chrashed on a deserted island, a group of schoolboys are the only survivors. They tried to get organized as a community while they wait for their rescue. The story involves leadership, laws, morality, politics, and the reality getting mixed up with a game.

The body of a boy who disappeared around Christmas is discovered in the melting snow in Tromso, Norway. The mystery is a bit different in that it is mainly concerned with figuring out who the boy is and why he was in town. Filled with Barnards typically dry humor and it has a satisfying solution to the mystery.

Charles Paris is reduced to playing the corpse in the production of a play in Rugland Spa. A series of accidents occurs during the production and Paris begins an investigation. I’ve read a few books in this series before, though totally out of order. They are humorous, easy reads.

Margaret and Steve Frawleys twin girls have been kidnapped and the kidnappers ask for an $8 million reward though the Frawleys are not rich. There are some definite moments of suspense in the book and I didn’t guess the identity of one of the kidnappers which is a plus. The ending is a bit rushed and it isn’t as good as her earlier works but still a worthwhile read.

Davey Goldman is a part time private eye who is also the personal secretary to the disabled Bishop Regan. Goldman becomes friends with actor Jim Kearney who is soon accused of murdering his half brother. I’ve never read this series before and found it enjoyable and didn’t guess the murderer which was a plus.

The story of Holden Caufield’s weekend in New York after he is kicked out of boarding school again. For some reason I never had to read this classic book in school so I’m glad I read it now. I never really connected with Holden but I didn’t dislike him either, mostly I felt sorry for him and thought he should seek counseling. To me he seemed to have something similar to manic depression, only sped up from real life.

This is the fourth book in the Cheat and Bernie mystery series. The books are told from the perspective of Chet who is a dog. This time around Chet and Bernie are hired to help protect Anya during parents weekend at her sons camp. Then her son ends up missing on a camping trip. This series is a lot of fun, mainly because Chet gets easily distracted by things like food and rawhide shoelaces while telling the story.

Juvenal seems to have stigmata and be able to heal people. Multiple people want to use Juvenal for their own ends. I have read Leonard’s books before and enjoyed them. My problem with this book is there was no real point to the story. Multiple characters show up but very little happens, overall a disappointment.

An old college friend of Mrs. Malory’s dies and leaves her as literary executive of her estate. There isn’t a lot of mystery here, more details of being a literary executive and conversations with friends. I read on other book in this series a long time ago and I’m not even sure why I own this book but I’m glad it’s off my TBR pile.

This is the first book in the Harry Hole mystery series. I found it interesting that even though the main character is a Norwegian police officer the whole book is set in Australia. Harry is sent to Sydney after a Norwegian girl is found raped and strangled. Not as engaging as some of the later entries in the series but i liked reading how the series started.

This is the fifth entry in the Grace and Favor mystery series, set in New York during the depression. This time around Lily and Robert Brewster are hired to help at a nearby nursing home when one of the patients is murdered. Lily and Robert don’t actually do much investigating this time and their main involvement in the story is getting a dumbwaiter installed in the nursing home. The ending seemed a bit rushed and why the murder had to occur when the victim was going to die of natural causes that day anyway is never really explained. Not much of a mystery but I still enjoy the main characters.

This is the second book featuring Liu Hulan, an agent with China’s Ministry of Public Security, and David Stark, an American attorney. This time Hulan is contacted by an old friend in the interior of China who believes her daughter, Miaoshan, was murdered. Hulan connects Miashoan’s death to a nearby toy factory. Meanwhile David returns to China so he can be with Hulan and he ends up representing the company that wants to buy the toy factory. An interesting look into a part of China that isn’t frequently written about.

The Hawks, the main violent crime investigators in South Africa, are called into a triple homicide at a winery and discover a fourth man has been kidnapped. All the bullets are marked with a cobra which the team learns is the sign of an international assassin. The story switches between Benny Griessel who is leading the police investigation and Tyrone a pickpocket. The two stories eventually intersect. The story was tightly plotted and fast moving. It kept me guessing what would happen and I really liked the characters. I also learned a bit about South Africa’s current government. I had never heard of this series before and I’m glad this challenge introduced me to this author. I’ll definitely look for more books by him.

The first in a series featuring the author Louisa May Alcott as an amateur detective. It’s 1854 and Louisa’s good friend Dorothy has been murdered. She married a man her family believes is a fortune hunter who is soon accused of her murder. Louisa isn’t so sure of his guilt and begins investigating. I liked the setting and the depiction of Louisa. The mystery was ridiculously easy to solve, I figured out who it was nearly as soon as the character was introduced in the story.

I had no idea what to expect when I chose this (500+ page) book from the 1001 book list for my TBR list. This was my first read from Joyce Carol Oates, and it was, in a word: intense. The story follows a down-and-out white “typical” American lower-class family from the 50s into the early 70s, following the matriarch from a small town in Ohio to the bustling grit of Detroit over the course of three decades. Oates’ language and its lyrical nature is fantastic, but this is not a book I would recommend to anyone “for fun,” or one that I would choose to read again. The subject matter and the characters themselves are difficult: the manic energy of the novel embodies their feelings of hopelessness, depression, madness and despair, coupled with murder and all shades of violence throughout. I can’t give it less than 4 stars, but it’s a challenging book to say the least.

I chose this for my debut novel largely because it popped up in several spots as a recommendation and also because I loved the name (how could you not)? I also liked the fact that it’s not a “new” debut novel; the author was in her early ’70s when she completed it and sadly died shortly before it was published, making this her first and last novel. The fictional story depicts life on the Island of Guernsey during WWII through a series of letters between many delightful characters. It manages to take the heavy topic of war and its effects seriously while remaining lighthearted, and strikes a good balance. Though some of the character development was a bit uneven, I appreciated the literary device of using letters to tell the story, and loved that the main character was a female writer brought to Guernsey because of the power of books. This was fun to read and a solid 4-star for me.

This was my first Coetzee book, so I chose his Booker prize winner. The language and rhythm of words is beautiful, and I felt Coetzee did a masterful job of writing about the difficult subjects of post-Apartheid race issues in South Africa, in addition to questions of power and sexism. However, I have to really understand the characters (even if I don’t like them or agree with their choices) in order for a well-written book to work. That didn’t happen for me here.

Final conclusion: I would read another Coetzee book, but this one wasn’t the best for me. 3 stars.

I really, really wanted to like this book. It’s the bestselling novel of award-winning science fiction writer Olivia Butler, and the first novel of hers I’ve read. Perhaps my biggest issue is with the execution of the novel’s premise: that a mid-20s African American woman travels through time to help her white forefather in 1819 (who enslaved her relatives and is “a man of his time”) stay alive. There are interesting dynamics that play out in the book, but for me the characters seemed two-dimensional and all-too-willing to accept a totally insane concept (time travel in a world where everything else is normal? Hmm). I’m not sure if it was the genre or elements of the story itself, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea; apparently most people disagree, because it’s got great ratings on Goodreads! 2 stars.

This was a great debut novel about a 14 year-old girl, seeking acceptance and purpose, who finds herself connected to a Manson-like cult in the summer of 1969. The writing is great, and the character development of the main character Evie is strong, so that even when she participates in activities the reader doesn’t like or approve of, it fits within the story’s narrative and helps to explore her psyche as an adolescent within this time period. Overall, this is a book I would recommend. It would make for a great beach or summer read. 4 stars.

Although I could have chosen high literature for this category, this YA novel about a future Manhattan lived almost entirely inside a massive skyscraper has hung out on my TBR list so long I had to give it a try. The story following the lives of several teenagers who lovebirds within a massively skyscraper, where your floor number denotes your level of wealth and place in society (naturally). I found the idea very inventive, and McGee makes it easy to get lost in a future world full of what is essentially a future filled with The Internet of Things mixed with high school drama. I wouldn’t definitely recommend this to YA lovers. And it’s part of a 3-book series! 4 stars.

Ann Patchett has a magical way of weaving together characters and settings in a way that makes even mundane situations feel as if the reader has escaped to a new world. This book about two blended families across a 50 year time span does a nice job of taking quiet, understated moments and constructing a narrative that seems to simmer with tension below the quotidian surface. I’d give this one 4.5 stars; while it’s not an all-time favorite I’d read many times over, it’s well written and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a recently published good read.

I chose this particular true crime book because until I saw the book description, I didn’t know about its subject, a serial killer in late 20s California who committed 20+ murders of young boys. The book is told from the perspective of his nephew, who recounts the horrors and sexual abuse he endured decades before. Though the tone of the book struck me as revisionist in many ways, the core story is as gut wrenching and horrifying as one might expect. True crime is not a genre I read much of, and I don’t know that I would read much more based on my experience reading this book. Not bad by any means; just not my thing. 3 out of 5 stars.

This was a really fun category! I don’t read graphic novels generally, though in the past I loved Persepolis, so it was great to see what was available at the library. I enjoyed the first volume of MIND MGMT, which reads like a detective story and sci-fi tale rolled up into one. It was difficult for me to wrap my head around the complexity of the novel, which introduces an amnesia-based problem that hides a larger and more complicated backstory; I don’t know if that’s because I’m new to the genre, this was the first volume of several, or a combination of both. The graphics were fantastic, and I can see why people collect these books, which are really a different kind of art form. I’d read the next in the series! 4 out of 5 stars.

Square 66: historical (Fit to Serve: Reflections on a Secret Life by James Hormel)

This book about the first gay man to serve as a United States Ambassador caught my eye as I was perusing the featured books at the library. It tells the story of James Hormel—heir to the Hormel canned meats company—in his own words. The book follows his life as a child of privilege through his years as an activist and philanthropist, eventually culminating in the challenges of seeking an ambassadorial appointment amidst backlash due to his status as an openly gay man. It was fascinating to read a book about someone in the American elite I had never heard about, and to learn about how political assignments and donations go hand in hand. The writing is fairly straightforward, though not unpleasant. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the struggle for gay rights and/or those interested in the process of becoming an appointed US ambassador.

What a way to end this challenge. This was one of those “classic” books on my TBR list that I set as a goal to read this year as I neglected it during my time as an English major. After finishing the book everyone knows as the shocking literary novel that describes a man’s relationship with a 12-14 year-old girl he claims as his stepdaughter, I felt compelled to read some literary criticism now that the book was published more than 50 years ago. Final thoughts: the subject matter is shocking, but the writing is amazing; it’s one of the reasons the book remains a classic rather than a smutty book forgotten in the annals of time. The discomfort one feels reading certain parts is equal to the disgust as you find yourself empathizing with the narrator. A classic for a reason; 5 stars.

1. The girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey
2. Don’t you Cry by Mary Kubica
3. The Matter with Morris by David Bergen
4. Invincible Summer by Alice Adams
5. Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume
6. A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler
7. The Girl From The Savoy by Hazel Gaynor
8. Undermajordomo by Patrick Dewitt
9. The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard
10. Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety by Ann Y. K. Choi
11. The Poison Artist by Jonathan Moore
12. The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan
13. Chai Tea Sunday by Heather A. Clark
14. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
15. The Third Man by Graham Greene
16. The Man Who Saved Henry Morgan by Robert Hough
17. The Gilded Life of Matilda Deplane by Alex Brinkhorst
18. Rules for a Knight by Ethan Hawke
19. Clover by Dori Sanders
20. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger
21. Property Of by Alice Hoffman
22. My Antonia by Willa Cather
23. The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence
24. The Affirmation by Christopher Priest
25. The Great Spring by Natalie Goldberg

I Loved it! This was my first book by Charles Dickens and now understand why he is a legend. It blew my mind in a few parts how issues and ways of life haven’t changed a bit! Perhaps this read will be a new tradition for me.

I could not put this book down and regret waiting for this challenge to get me to read it. I saw an article about the author and the book, being her debut novel, and was curious. She blew me away with her insight, graceful writing and layers of complexity underneath uncomplicated sentences. I cried all throughout the last five chapters. If I could, I would give it more than 5 stars. How did this book not win a national award!?

The beginning of this book was really neat and I enjoyed the first 15 pages or so. Then it became too disjointed and uninteresting. I would be interested in giving this author another try – she does have a gift for writing – but this story just wasn’t it for me. I was hopeful that the ending would bring it all together nicely, but it didn’t.

I have great luck with book choices recently. I absolutely love this style of writing. I was hooked straight away – it lost me a bit in the middle and the ending came across as abrupt to me. But I will be sure to read more of Patrick Modiano as I am certain that he has a few gems during his career. The Honeymoon is a good read but I would hesitate to recommend this to someone who reads commercial fiction. This book is for literary fiction lovers and readers willing to fill in the gaps of the story themselves.

Week 5: Book written before 1900s
Book: Notes from the Underground by Dostoyevsky (1864)

This is an interesting read. It was so odd in its final message that it will take some time to determine his true purpose for publishing something so absurd. The traditional elements of Russian classic drama was ever present though and I always find it so amusing to read. I don’t feel like this was necessarily a bad read – just an odd one with a take away feeling of “what the heck was that?”

With a title like Barkskins you’d make the assumption that the book would perfectly fit this weeks category. It definitely fit – but not in the way that I had expected. The forest, forestry, trees and their relationship with humans is the way that the book incorporated the landscape as a character in the book. I had expected the landscape to have a unique personality of it’s own, set the tone of events that happened etc…to some degree it did but it was subtle and didn’t come off as strong as expected. The subject matter engrossed me the entire book as it is a personal interest of mine despite some character lives in the book were less interesting than others.
This book is definitely a product of the times and is a book that will continue to get strong reviews and gain Annie Proulx an even stronger following. I am very pleased with this weeks selection.
I am sneaking this review in rather late as it is nearly 1 am PST but I figured since the new roll hasn’t happened yet I am still in the green. Fingers crossed. It was a 700+ page book had me committed the entire week. I definitely feel a sense of accomplishment with this one.

I rarely read memoir and biography so this was a welcome change. I have read travel accounts before though and always enjoy them. The travel aspect of this book was the only thing that held my interest. Even though the writing was quite good and it flowed nicely I was never able to get drawn in or emotionally invested for some reason. Three stars.

I absolutely loved this book and coming to love this author (this was the second book I’ve read by this author and both I’ve given strong 5 star rating!). This book is a gem in that it follows a Jewish family and community that eventually gets swallowed by assimilation. It is one of those lost pieces of history that makes for interesting stories and Buck does so with her undeniable grace. Highly recommended.

Week 9/10: TBR #12
Book: The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan

How disappointing. I had about an hour left to complete the book but fell asleep – unable to finish in order to make the deadline for week 10. The worst part being that it was a lousy book. There was a small section in the middle of the book where I thought it might pull through and bring it to a three star or even, with much effort, a possible four star but it only drudged on. There was zero emotional pull, sympathy for the main character was non-existent and – the worst part – the point of view and tense of the book was irritating and, in my opinion, the wrong choice for the story.

This was a really unique book and I am glad that I took the time to read it even though I had already seen the movie. It was fun, entertaining – the character of Mark Whatney really making the book so good. I am really enjoying my new-found appreciation for the science fiction genre. I highly recommend this book.

Although I did really badly the last 2 weeks of the game I have enjoyed this so much that I am going to continue to roll for books to read throughout the year hopefully this will also inspire me to clear the TBR.

White Noise by Don Delillo- 4 stars
This was a delightful look at a college professor obsessed with his own fear of death, manifested by the spill, and his exposure to, a noxious chemical. It is satire, but the humor is so subtle that I would recommend it to those who don’t like satire.

Horror
Zone One by Colson Whitehead- 3.5 stars
Zombies are taking over, and humans are trying to survive. There is, in true Whitehead fashion, a lot of symbolism and humor in this book, but also lots of things to really ponder.

TBR #22
The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa- 3.5 stars
The last days of Trujillo of the Dominican Republic are highlighted in this interesting, history (over) laden novel. It was well researched and well written, with a style that puts the reader there, in the cruelest regime and the horrifying aftermath of Trujillo’s assassination.

Thriller
Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell 3 stars
A police procedural that is the first in a series based on Detective Kurt Wallander, this was just okay. The bad guys were caught (sorry-spoiler), there’s a chase or two, etc. I don’t think I’ll be hunting for the rest of the series.

You’ll miss out. They’re actually a biography of a man struggling to be a father, a colleague, a decent human being. They get richer as the series progresses. I cried when I read the final novel, and I’ve got a core of steel when it comes to sentiment.

I hope you do. I love crime novels, but these are pretty run of the mill. I struggle to remember the plots. Mankell’s attempts to address contemporary issues in Swedish society can be a bit clunky at times, as well. His strength, I think, is in examining Kurt as a man from a particular generation and his ill-preparedness for changes in society.

Mystery
Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey 3 stars
An imposter pretends to be the lost heir of a fairly wealthy family- but his real identity and the actual fate of the real heir are the mysteries here. The writing is terrific, but the plot was pretty predictable now- though maybe not when written.

African/American SFF
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle- 2.5 stars
Tom is tired of being treated badly by whites in 1920s era NYC, and he finds a magical way to get revenge, for better or worse. This felt like it had so much potential, but ended up feeling very incomplete to me.

Landscape as Character
The Bear and the Nightengale-4 stars
What a fun read! A new take on Russian fairytales- The landscape is the forbidding winter forests of Russia, and it has the added bonus of the river, trees, snow, etc coming to life as spirits. The picture in my mind while reading was always this freezing land, and I feel that makes the landscape even more affecting as a character.

TBR #12
The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski 3.5 stars
NOT for the faint of heart. The unnamed narrator is a boy of 9 at the start and a boy of 12 at the end of the story. He is sent by his Jewish parents to a village in Poland to wait out WWII. Fate has other ideas, and our narrator is abused and watches atrocious abuses against humans and animals as he finds his way in the world. This was very well written, with themes of isolation, and the horrors of human nature, but so very violent.

TBR#3
Are You My Mother? By Alison Bechdel 3 stars
The follow up to Fun Home, this is Bechdel’s graphic memoir regarding her mother, and her life/loves in respect to her relationship with her mother. The book had a large amount of space dedicated to the author’s psychological research with the intent of self-analysis. This could have been much less detailed- it detracted from the book for me. Otherwise, it was okay.

Science
Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe 3.5 stars
An interesting look at things, like space stations, the periodic table, internal organs, the US Constitution, and the USS Constitution, to name a few. This was fascinating in many ways, but the author gave “other” names for things, e.g. Air Bags for lungs, and didn’t give the real name of the thing. It wasn’t an issue if I knew the material, but I know next to nothing about, say, a combustion engine, and that real word would be nice to know.

Nonfiction about Music/Musician
Never a Dull Moment by David Hepworth 3.5 stars
This is an homage to the great variety of music brought out to the world in 1971. This was an interesting read- news stories and pop culture blend to describe what was happening in music at that time, and there was a lot going on! Not only did I like most of the stories behind the albums, I also spent way too much money on iTunes.

Fairy Tale/Mythology/Folklore
The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste 4 stars
This was a fun middle-grade book, a combo of Haitian fairy tale and Caribbean folklore. Jumbies are Caribbean monsters- a scary group that encompasses tree people, werewolves, and a myriad of other creepies. This would be a great book for young Harry Potter fans.

Book on books
By the Book edited by Pamela Paul, New York Times Book Review 4 stars
This is a compendium of interviews with authors about reading, and what they like to read. I was astonished to read that some authors, that I wouldn’t ever suspect as such, were total book snobs (Patterson), and others that I would bet serious money on them being book snobs, were very much not (FRANZEN!!) I also got some more good recommendations for the TBR. All in all, a fun read.

So you are reading YA LGBT which is the category on square 6 (because you landed on square 6). The rest of us landed on square 16 so we are reading book by Korean author because that is the category on that square. U fortunately for us, that square led down a chute but we still read the square ok which we originally landed

Catherine Ryan is probably my favorite writer. I usually love everything she writes. This book was good but I love ut as much as others. It was told in first person by a very juvenile sounding character who has been moved to an apartment to live alone by her mother. She is only 15 but her mother’s boyfriend doesn’t want her around. Her next door neighbor is a woman transitioning to a man.

Kent Haruf is an amazing writer, so simple yet elegant. His characters are filled out. I didn’t care for this story however. It was pretty miserable. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to give it a 3 or a 4 on Goodreads but ultimately decided a 3. (It would be a 3.5 if I had that option).

TBR 8
Joni by Joni Earecksen
Joni had a diving accident in her teens which broke her neck. This was about her struggles with her Christianity and coming to terms with now being a quadriplegic. She eventually becomes an artist by using a pencil in her mouth. I listened to it on audio and did not like the author’s reading voice.

Big Brother watches everyone through telescreens set up everywhere. There is no history; it is changed as needed to reflect current happenings to have been always true. Winston questions this and tries to join the Brotherhood which he thinks is fighting Big Brother. He is caught and tortured. I initially enjoyed this but now I’m not sure how I feel. I listened to it on audio which not my usual choice was good for this book.

I would rate this book 3- 3.5 stars. I liked the story of the women’s relations and I learned a lot about the revolutionary changes in Iran during the 70’s to 90’s. I didn’t enjoy that so much of the books was about the history of the revolution in Iran. Also the story was not told chronologically but was all over the place in it’s time line.

Poorly written, comments not making sense, characters doing our of character behaviors or sayibg stupid things. I was told 3 times that a table was a Nakashima, really? Too bad I like the characters and the story until the very bad ending leaving the rest of the storyline hanging. This is a series touted as being able to read the induvudual books as stand-alones but I had no idea who anyone was, especially as she would change the names she called characters and never had ANY explanation of who anyone was.

This was a touching story of a housekeeper who goes to work for a former math professor who, after a car accident, only had memory for 80 minutes at a time. There is a lot of math in this story which I skimmed some of.

Very moving story about a little-known heroine until the last few years. The setting is WW2, the Warsaw Ghetto. There are a lot of names in the beginning and it feels like the story isn’t getting started but…just wait for it. Well worth it.

I think this was supposed to be a cozy mystery but it failed, The main character as well as all the others were unlikeable, rude and unfriendly. The dialogue tried way to hard to be funny. The environment was cold and and uninviting.

Kate’s List
Her privates we
Hogfather by Pratchett
The Drunken Botanist by Stewart
The Port Chicago 50 by Sheinkin
The Towers of Trebizond
The Invention of Curried Sausage
Something Rotten by Fforde
Cold Comfort Farm
Salvage the Bones
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
The Disappearing Spoon
Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee
Half of a yellow Sun
Unwind
Homegoing
The Garden of the Finzi-continis
Bring up the Bodies
Middlemarch
Wideacre
Niko’s Nature by Kruuk
A Lesson Before Dying
We are not Ourselves
The Unexpected Mrs Polifax
The Complete Don Quixote (graphic novel)
The soul of an octopus

Book Two – TBR #10Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – by Jamie Ford
★★★★
The title pretty much sums up the tone of this story of a middle-aged man in 1986 looking back on his tumultuous childhood in Seattle during World War II. Henry was the only Chinese student in his almost all-white middle school when he developed a deep friendship with the other “scholarshipping” student, second generation Japanese-American Keiko. Ford’s book is a pretty emotional look at the devastating injustices visited upon the Japanese American community in the name of patriotism and national security. My only quibble would be that Henry and Keiko seemed far more mature to me than twelve years old. Maybe that is a natural product of their traditional sheltered upbringings, but I can’t image today’s twelve year olds being that composed and mature.

Jiggery-pokery! When Lord Peter Wimsey uttered those words in my audio book version of this Dorothy L. Sayers classic I literally whooped in delight. So that’s where Fat Tony Scalia picked up that phrase that so infamously worked its way into his dissenting opinion on a Supreme Court challenge to health care subsidies. This novel went well with my binge-watching of Downton Abbey at the same time. I could only wish that Lord Peter could have been on hand at Downton to bring a swifter resolution to some of the endless murder subplots on the series.

Book Four – South African contemporaryWaiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee
★★★★★
I have issues with the Goodreads summary for this chilling novel. The magistrate’s tenure in a sleepy frontier town on the outer edges of the Empire is indeed upended by the arrival of Colonel Joll from the Third Bureau. However there was no real evidence of any impending war until the Colonel and his like started rounding up the indigenous population and torturing them.

By keeping the identities of his Empire and his barbarians mystery Coetzee allows his reader to draw their own analogies. Was he writing about South Africa and its indigenous populations? He could just as easily be referring to any of the European colonial powers, the United States genocidal assault on its native populations, or as immediately came to mind for me, the United States’ more recent misadventures in the Middle East. By page 6 I was disturbed by the parallels that were leaping off the page. By page 25 I put the book down to call my Senators to voice my opinions about the current confirmation hearings. This was a very disturbing but powerful book.

This has been languishing in my TBR ever since it was a 1001 book of the month read ages ago. Now that I have finally read it I have to say I wasn’t thrilled with it. Maybe its flippant tone was edgy at the time nowadays it seems to me Gibbons was trying too hard to be funny and though I love the Monty Python strain of British humor I’ve never liked the town v. country and more class based varieties. As for the vocabulary I was never sure if she was just making stuff up or it really reflected Sussex vernacular. That’s not what they sound like on Foyle’s War! I did like the names of the cows.

Somewhat disappointing debut novel from the author of Lamb. The off-the-wall sense of humor is the same but over the years Moore has developed a far lighter touch with his humor that is lacking in this violent gory tale of a demon running amok in the Northern California town of Pine Cove. I liked most of his characters I just was turned off by the gruesomeness.

The landscape was actually my favorite character in this story of a young woman and her three suitors in the fictional county of Wessex in southern England. Of the men Troy was a smarmy self-centered narcissist, Boldwood was a stalker, and as for Gabriel, well I never quite forgave him for not supervising his dog properly. At first I was annoyed with Bathsheba for perceived fickleness until I reflected that in this age she’d be a young college student with the privilege of playing the field a bit and exploring different relationships. Why should she have to commit to a life-sentence as the property of one man at any age let alone as such a young woman exploring her own strengths and capabilities. With a few Hardy novels under my belt in addition to Pratchetts Tiffany Aching series I almost feel as I though I might be qualified to start keeping a few sheep.

This was fascinating, though surprisingly heavy on the Freudian psychology of the 70s and a bit dull during the trip when she’s accounting the history of her relationships. The way Jong tracks the process of women’s internal liberation – middle class white women, anyway – was poignant for me, frustrating much of the time, but ultimately hopeful. I marked so many passages (using my lovely blades of grass page markers) that my book looks like a little garden. I love the complete frankness of Jong’s narrator, the open – if convoluted – examination of herself.

Roll two, square 23, contemporary South African author. The House Gun, by Nadine Gordimer. I think four stars.

Gordimer is an author I’ve been meaning to read for a long time, so I’m glad the opportunity came up. Her writing is so impressive; it’s remarkable how deeply she can explore the private thoughts of people facing the most dire circumstances, and address large societal and historical issues at the same time. It took quite a while longer for me to read, and I’m still thinking about it.

Roll four, book by a Nobel prize winner: Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell. All the stars.

I think I’ve found my philosopher. I’m shocked how progressive Russell was in the early twentieth century – most of these essays were written in the 20s and 30s, even one as early as 1903, and the collection was published in 1957, but they all say things that I still feel radical for believing nearly a century later. From what I can tell he was essentially a feminist, or at least approximately, and given the time period it’s surprising how few things he said that wouldn’t be acceptable today – there was an offensive comment each about sex workers and the mentally ill, two groups that I think even now are among the last to gain respect, and a few mentions of “primitive savages,” etc. I’m so glad this was my own copy, not a library book, because I will be rereading and thinking about it for a long time. He had so many interesting thoughts about the future, and only one of them seems crazy (the idea that because of scientific progress, the patriarchal family was dissolving and pretty soon children were going to start being raised by the state. He has good reasons for thinking so; it’s just funny because of how decidedly it has NOT happened. But who knows, maybe it’s still in the future, and we’re just not there yet).

Roll 5, landscape as a character: Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte. [There are going to be spoilers in here because I think the statute of limitations runs out at 150 years.] This was a difficult category for me, but I had been wanting to reread this book for a long time—I first read it probably fifteen years ago, in high school—and I remembered how significant the landscape is in creating the atmosphere, both reflecting and shaping Catherine and Heathcliff. Here’s the full review on my blog.

Roll six, memoir adapted to stage: The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion.

I haven’t written a full review of this yet, but I probably will need to. It was pretty difficult to read: such raw, precisely-articulated grief is almost overwhelming. This is the first I’ve read of Didion’s work, and that seems strange to me, to be introduced to someone via the most intimate, traumatic experience of their life.

This book is close to 500 pages, so I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it in one week. I should have remembered how much I love Murakami – I finished easily in five days. It may be one of my favorites of his books. The plot was so interesting, the characters have great relationships, and I was struck often by a really beautiful idea or well-put phrase. It had been a while since my last Murakami and like always, as I finish it I’m so excited that I still have more of his books to read.

Roll eight, main character under 20. Horimiya, volume 2, by Hero and Daisuke Hagiwara.

A “slice of life” manga about two high school students whose parents are so busy they’re never around, so the teenagers are basically responsible for themselves – and very different outside of school than their classmates would ever guess. I like that this one develops the relationship between the two guy friends as well as the one between the girl and the boy (the two main characters, Hori and Miyamura). There’s no romance (yet), just the usual drama about who likes who among high school students.

I have very mixed feelings! Peake has a spectacularly unique voice and way of describing things. One of my favorite devices is how he shows what all the other characters are doing while the character in focus is doing whatever they’re doing. I can’t believe how long it took me to read, though. Even despite the fascinating characters and creative imagery, I found that some pages were taking me 20 or 30 minutes to read, and I barely made it through in the end. There’s a great chance I’ll read the other two later, but I couldn’t do it now.

Roll eleven, a book that takes place in New York. The Boat Rocker, by Ha Jin.

I did not like this book. The protagonist is a petty, self-important misogynist on a campaign to “get even” with his ex-wife, but we’re supposed to root for him as a “fiercely principled” journalist on a “dogged quest for truth.” No. Just no.

This was a lovely, fascinating read. She and Robert Mapplethorpe had such interesting lives and a remarkable relationship – they were each other’s muses, friends, roommates, lovers, and support system. They lived exactly the kind of bohemian life we want to think artists live, and being a poet Patti Smith writes about it beautifully. She also narrates the audio, and that’s the only thing that could have made it even better.

I almost forgot to post in time – Eastern Time is an hour ahead of me! Last roll, TBR 20, Dietland by Sarai Walker.

This book was a strange mix of things – I loved the premise and the protagonist’s character development, but was a little confused and unsatisfied by the progression and conclusion of the Jennifer storyline. As a plot, it was fantastic potential only partially fulfilled; as a book examining the toxicity of beauty culture, it was outstanding.

Roll 3, December 26/Jan 2: Space 20- Costa Winner or Nominee
The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer
3 Stars
I didn’t actually know what the Costa Awards were- so this was education on that matter. Found the book with the most interesting cover from the past two years, so that’s how this came to be my read.
Link to Review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1858426029

Roll 4, Jan 9: Space 24- Mystery
The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
3 Stars
Dang it!!! I finished this last night and forgot today was a holiday IE did not have to wake up early to go to work), I was going to post this before the next roll but it seems as I missed the deadline and the next round has already started 😦
Link to Review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1655500076

Roll 5, Jan 16/23: Space 34- Supernatural
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
4 Stars
I am not a supernatural fan (I did enjoy the Sookie Stackhouse books, but am all finished with the series)-so this one was stretching for me. I wasn’t sure if Cinder would count for supernatural since I normally think of vampires, werewolves, witches for that. But it’s been tagged over 100 times as Supernatural so I guess it counts! Been meaning to make it to Cinder and it’s series for ages so this was a good reason to read it.
Link to Review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1646623511

Roll 6, Jan 30/Feb 6: Space 35- Book Written Before 1900
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (originally published in 1887)
3 Stars
Wanted to read this this year, so this was a good excuse. I’m actually amazed at the amount of literature I HAVEN’T read that was written before 1990.
Link to Review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1898267317

Roll 8, Feb 13: Space 53- Book About War
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
3 Stars
OK so this might be a stretch to call this “about war”. But there was lots of war in it, and the war was the main backdrop. So hopefully it counts because historical fiction is the closest to reading a book “about war” as I want to get right now. Haha
Link to Review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/680282411?book_show_action=false

Roll 9, Feb 10/Feb 27/Mar 6: Space 59- Cozy Mystery
Diamond Rings are Deadly Things by Rachelle J Christensen
3 Stars
This was a cute quick read. I got this book as a nook freebie. And it was a typical nook freebie- fine for fluff, but nothing substantial or memorable. This followed Adri, a wedding planner in Idaho with a string of thefts, mystery, and all while juggling her personal life. I got pretty exhausted of her personal life- which guy will she end up? But Adri as the protagonist consistently annoyed me and made really stupid choices. Ie not getting the police involved in the beginning, withholding important information from the police, whatnot. Didn’t make me want to ‘root for her’ at all.

The whole book was intermixed with “wedding crafts and tips”. Most of these are super overused and weren’t original. Maybe since I work in the wedding industry I just have prior knowledge- but really these were pointless and could have been omitted.

YA LGBT – fortunately I had a copy of “If I Was Your Girl” which was in a Bookriot box.

4 star review. This was riveting, and whilst not ‘fun’, I kept turning the pages. The continuing theme was about the darker side of human nature, with some glimpses of redemption thrown in. The bravery of those (including the author) who go through the process of becoming trans-gender is astonishing – this is an essential read for anyone wishing to get a fuller understanding, and dare I say it, compassion.

Roll 2 – thriller. The Blue Zone by Andrew Gross. 3 stars. This was perfectly engaging, with the expected number of twists and turns before the denouement. Despite this, I had some of it worked out pretty early, and I’m not much of a predictor. Enjoyable in the way that I find all thrillers, but nothing outstanding.

I didn’t come up with the category so I think use your best judgment. I think it can be any kind of reworking or adaptation of another story — a fairy tale retelling (like Gregory Macguire books), a retelling of a Shakespeare play (e.g. the Hogwarth series), or an reworking of a classic (Jane Steele, Madwoman in the Attic, etc). Or it could mean a take off on another book, from the point of view of a minor character, etc. I think you can be pretty creative with what you select. If you like Shakespeare, the Hogwarth series would be a good place to take a look.

Tbr 15. Laura Barnett – The Versions of Us. Oh my goodness. If ever there was a poster for ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, this is it. I expected something light and fun, in a Sliding Doors scenario. Three separate stories, back and forth, back and forth, confusing me. Each time I went back to it, I had to re-read quite a bit for refamiliarisation. By the time I got the hang of it, I was near the end. After a quirky beginning, it was just all far more serious than I expected. Not badly written at all, although completing out has been a mission. 3.5 stars. However, the following sentence deserves five stars “he stands for a moment before opening the studio door, looking down at the beach, flooded with a disorientating happiness; and he savours it, drinks it in, because he is old enough now to know happiness for what it is: brief and fleeing, not a state to strive for, to seek to live in, but to catch when it comes,and to hold on to for as long as you can”.

My task was “family relationships” and I had chosen “early one morning” by Virginia Baily. But I got hooked on Straight Flush by Ben Mezrich. Ultimately, after I finished it I realised it was about the relationship between two stepbrothers with a narrative about absolute poker. The facts let me through it easily, but (and I’m no prude) there seemed to be swearing inserted to make it a bit more of a ‘lad’ story, which just made it feel poorly written. 3 stars.

Square #4. Fantasy (Me, I would consider this science fiction/horror, but it is tagged “fantasy” at both GR and LT. I do see why some would tag it that way.)

Dinosaur Lake / Kathryn Meyer Griffith
4 stars

Henry is the Chief Park Ranger at Crater Lake, which sits atop a volcano. There has been no volcanic activity in anyone’s memory and earthquakes are rare and mild. Near the start of the book, some dinosaur bones are found when a small earthquake reveals them. When Henry learns that people have seen a “monster” in the lake, including one of his best friends/one of the other rangers, he doesn’t really believe them until he sees it himself. Things go from bad to worse as people start to disappear…

This was really good. Lots of suspense and I was often on-the-edge-of-my-seat with a pounding heart. There was a range of characters and motivations; some of the characters I liked, some not so much! At first, the book had me thinking of similarities to Jurassic Park, then Jaws (Henry gets to a point where he wants to close the lake, but no one believes that there is a problem), and some Loch Ness Monster (monster in a lake) and Bigfoot (no one believes it) thrown in there. This is part of a series, and I do hope to continue.

Wilbur is a pig and was the runt of his litter. When the farmer wants to kill him, his 8-year old daughter, Fern, won’t let him. She insists she’ll raise him. When Wilbur gets older, though, he is sent to Fern’s uncle’s barn, where Fern visits daily. Wilbut makes friends with many of the other animals in the barn, and his closest friend becomes a spider, Charlotte. When the other animals warn that Wilbur won’t be alive come Christmas, Charlotte comes up with a plan to save Wilbur’s life.

I remember reading this and loving it when I was a kid, but I certainly don’t remember specifics. I do remember bawling at the end! I still love this story, and though I didn’t bawl like I did when I was a kid, I did cry. Maybe I’m rating it higher because of my memories of the book, as well, so the extra half star may be for that, but that’s ok. Part of it could also just be my love of animals, and I love how they are portrayed in the book. I believe I read the original edition of the book (and I’m sure it was the same edition I read when I was a kid), and the illustrations are very nice.

Astrid’s mother is a poet and a murderer. When Astrid is 12? 13?, her mother murders one of her series of boyfriends and goes to jail. This lands Astrid in various foster homes until she turns 18, during which time there is sex, drugs and violence.

I wasn’t sure, at first, if I was going to like it. I didn’t like the (literary) writing style. Lots of description and in a case or two, I had to “read between the lines” to figure out what was actually happening. It got better after Astrid’s mom went to jail (seemed like less poetic description once the poet character was not as much in the story?), and I found all the various happenings in the foster homes much more interesting. I’m not sure I really liked Astrid, but I certainly felt badly for her. Definitely didn’t like her mother.

This novel follows the Grey sisters. The oldest, Lady Jane Grey became Queen of England for 9 days, following Henry VIII’s son, Edward. Henry’s oldest daughter (Jane’s cousin), Mary I, took over and imprisoned and later beheaded Jane. Jane had two younger sisters, Katherine (Kat) and the hunchbacked Mary. Kat married twice for love and Mary was never expected to marry. They were all threats to the throne.

I have read much about Jane, but only one other book (I believe it was nonfiction) about her sisters. I really enjoyed this, but then Jane has fascinated me since high school. The chapters switch perspectives between all three of them. I actually didn’t like Mary in this book, nor did I like Kat all that much. It’s a fictional portrayal, so that may not be, personality-wise, what they were really like, anyway, but the book was still enjoyable, and of course, it’s always a fun way to learn more.

This book is all about polar bears, from the time Europeans first came across them up to their current potential peril due to global warming/climate change.

The history is unfortunate, as humans mostly tended, for a long time, to simply shoot them on site, assuming they were a threat (yes, they can be dangerous, but apparently, they are also very curious, and much of their approaching humans seems more to have been from curiosity than aggression). There was information on their behaviour, which I found particularly interesting. There were chapters on zoos and circuses, and on hunting. The last chapters focused on global warming and how it will affect polar bears and other wildlife in the Arctic; I’ve read enough about this that I’m not surprised by any of it, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating (and sad). There were also plenty of photos, both mixed in with the text and in a separate colour section.

The “Black Dahlia” murder was the murder of 22-year old Elizabeth Short in LA in 1947. She was found with her body cut in half. The murder has never been solved, but George Hodel was one of the suspects at the time. This book illustrates the similarities between Elizabeth Short’s murdered body and surrealist art. Hodel was apparently connected to the art scene in LA around the time, as well as being a doctor.

I am more interested in the crime itself and not surrealist (weird!!!) art. There were plenty of photos in the book, of both surrealist art and the crime scene. The crime scene photos are pretty graphic, but the authors assure the reader that these are the least bad of the crime scene photos. The photos do show how closely her body does resemble plenty of surrealist art. There was a LOT more information than I ever wanted to know about surrealism and the artists themselves. The bulk of the book was really about the art and the artists and less about the crime. Despite me not really being interested in art history, the book mostly did hold my attention, so it’s an “ok” for me, but I’d really like to find more information on the murder itself where the book actually focuses on that.

This book was not authorized by the family. Any earlier biographies, tv movies, etc, were all authorized by her family and, seemingly, “whitewashed”. The author of this one talks to many, many people who knew Karen – friends, family, other celebrities – to put together her life.

Karen Carpenter was one of the siblings in the musical brother-sister duo, The Carpenters, who became stars in the 1970s. Karen became anorexic and died at 32-years old.

The above was about as much as I knew about Karen Carpenter. The Carpenters were big before I was born and when I was very young. I do remember some of their music from when I was younger, but I particularly remember watching the tv movie that aired in 1989. I was in high school at that time and that may have been when I found out about her anorexia. This book brings to light some of the reasons that she may have developed anorexia: an overprotective mother; a disastrous marriage; though she was the “star” of the Carpenters, she was always second-best in her family, as brother Richard was always her parents’ (or at least her mother’s) favourite, and that was never hidden.

There was a lot of detail about the songs/hits, etc. Maybe a bit too much. At the same time, I had a Carpenters soundtrack running through my head the entire time I was reading it! I even had to youtube their music to listen to some I didn’t know (or some I did know, but didn’t recognize based on the title). And I’m listening to The Carpenters as I write this review.

Overall, though, I thought it was very good. There was a lot I didn’t know about Karen, and it was all very interesting, and no question, very sad.

Vianne and Isabelle are sisters, but are not close. Vianne is married and has a daughter and lives in rural France, while Isabelle prefers Paris. Vianne’s husband goes to fight in World War II, and Isabelle goes to live with Vianne. The sisters are opposites. Vianne wants to not rock the boat and just wait for Antoine to come home. Isabelle is furious and wants to help stop the Germans, so she gets involved with some underground resistance. In fact, Isabelle is very involved and it is very dangerous. Meanwhile, Vianne’s home is “confiscated” by the Germans when the town is invaded and a German soldier stays with them. This is dangerous for everyone…

The book goes back and forth between 1995 and 1939-1945. I think I’ve only read one other book (that comes to mind, anyway) that is set in France during the war (Sarah’s Key), so between the two books, I am learning more of what happened in occupied France. At first, I found Isabelle’s story more intriguing (we also went back and forth between what was happening with each sister), but as time went on, things were happening on both ends. Despite the length of the book, it was a fast read for me. Very, very well done and very interesting and heartbreaking, at times.

This book primarily follows Polish orphan Varvara, who has come to Russian Empress Elizabeth’s court after her father died. She ends up doing some spying for the chancellor, then the Empress herself, before she becomes friends with Prussian princess, Sophie, who would later become Catherine the Great. This follows the time frame from just before Sophie’s arrival to shortly after she becomes Empress of Russia.

I liked it. Not quite as much as I’d hoped I would, but I still enjoyed it. There is a sequel that I will definitely plan to read. I was disappointed, though, that there was no author’s note, which I always appreciate in any historical fiction I read.

This is the first in the series. Sharon is a “licensed companion” (i.e. an upscale prostitute) who has been murdered. Her grandfather is a high-ranking conservative politician, who doesn’t want detail of the murder to get out. Eve Dallas is the lieutenant investigating the murder.

I really liked the story, and would have given it 4 stars, if not for the love interest, who I really, really disliked. If he’d been there, but not as a love interest, or not been there at all, or had a completely different personality, I would have liked it better. Oh, there was a big reveal “scene”, but I was slightly lost with the use of familial terms, as somehow I had missed some of those familial connections and how some of them were connected to others, so until the end of the reveal, I wasn’t quite sure who was doing what to whom! The ending was very good, with some edge-of-your-seat moments right up until the end and there was a little twist. I have the next two books in the series, so I will read them, but if this love interest sticks around, I’m not sure if I’ll continue beyond the books I have.

Interesting… with my review written (except for this little extra bit), I’m perusing other reviews. I see I’m in a minority for not liking the love interest. Also (though a few things confused me and this explains it), I seem to have missed that this was set in the future… Even worse, I see that someone (though they seem not to think it’s a spoiler… seems to me it’s a pretty big one), has spoiled the rest of the series for me, and apparently I may not be reading much beyond the next two books, unless something changes

This story follows several young men through the course of a weekend. Some are trying to make a statement by breaking a kissing world record, some are experiencing a new love, some an older love. Another is just trying to find himself. While all this is going on, the story is told by the ones who came before them, the ones who are only there spiritually. This story touches a tough subject and does so very well.

Many decades ago the world was torn apart by war. Now people are divided into factions, each one highlighting a characteristic that in theory will keep war from happening. Beatrice is on the cusp of choosing which faction is right for her. However, she thinks differently, she isn’t only one faction and it shows. This is a large problem as being divergent means going against the system, and with some unhappy with the system, she’ll need to watch her step lest she ends up dead. Excellent story, I look forward to continuing the series.

Category: Book set before 1900
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
2 stars

In the days of Puritanical times Hester Prince has had a child. The only problem is that her husband had been missing for 2 years meaning Hester is an adulterer and she won’t name the father. The story continues for 7 years and concludes with learning her Co- adulterer’s name and a resolve of that conflict. I found the story easy enough to follow but I was bored with it and probably wouldn’t have finished it, at least right now, if not for the game.

Every 10 years, the Dragon takes a girl to come live with him as payment of sorts for keeping the Wood at bay. However this year he has chosen someone unexpected and the Wood is getting bolder. I really enjoyed this book and find myself sort of wishing there were more, that it was a series.

Category: Book about war
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jaime Ford
4 stars

This story follows Henry, a Chinese American who in 1986 is relating his experience of being a teenager during WWII, living in Washington, and befriending a Japanese American girl. Following the events of Pearl Harbor, life for the Japanese living in the US changed dramatically, and Henry watches it all unfold as his best friend, a second generation Japanese American girl, taken away and forced to live in one of the camps. Not only does this separate them, but his father, a very nationalistic Chinese man, is very against anything that is Japanese. The story jumps back and forth between the 2 time lines, but was very easy to follow and I very much enjoyed the book.

I’ve finally finished! When looking ahead on the last roll I had, this was the category I didn’t want because it usually takes me awhile to read non fiction.

Category: Nonfiction about music
A Brief History of Rock, Off the Record by Wayne Robins
4 stars

This books covers so many aspects of Rock n’ Roll starting at the very beginning in the 1950’s. It discusses the roots of the genre, the various artists and even some of the political and cultural things that were going on at the time. I found the book very enjoyable as I would constantly read a song title and start singing to myself. There are so many good songs that were brought back to my attention and I found the information very interesting.

This book is the first in the Lords of the Underworld series. Warriors to the Gods, the Lords made a mistake and are now cursed to house within them the demons they released. Maddox houses Violence, but also has a second curse in which he dies violently every night at midnight. Enter Ashlyn, who seemingly tames not only Maddox, but his demon as well. All the while, there are Hunters out to destroy the Lords. I like this book and will most likely continue on with the series.

A beautiful story of a cantankerous curmudgeon of a man and his whippersnapper neighbors. All he wants is I die and be with his beloved late wife, however his plan always gets foiled by his new neighbors. As the story goes on, he becomes more involved with his neighbors and seemingly realizes that maybe continuing to live wouldn’t be so horrible. I really enjoyed this book. It has a lovely blend of seriousness and humor that I found appealing. I look forward to reading more by this author.

TBR 10 A Spool of Blue Thread Anne Tyler
3 stars
I enjoyed this book but it didn’t challenge me or really make me think, and it was not original – I’m really surprised it made the Booker shortlist. I did like it’s focus on old age and responsibility for parents as they get older and the strains on sibling relationships that that can bring. It’s the kind of book my mum will love and she will be getting my second hand copy as an extra present next week.

Korean Author The Vegetarian Han King
4 stars
This book will stay with me for a long time. Totally original and not exactly a pleasant read, it is in three sections all told from the point of view of someone close to the protagonist, never directly from her. The attitudes described in the book to mental health, women, marriage and sex were disturbing and I found very surprising. It made me both want to find out more about Korea, it’s culture and attitudes to women and also to read Han Kang’s 2016 book, Human Acts.

TBR Tightrope Simon Mawer
2 stars
Cold War spy novel, not my usual thing, but had high hopes for ripping through it post-Christmas. Two big problems with it unfortunately, first it just took so long go get going and second the narrator was another character in the book who just wouldn’t have known what was going on and frequently said as so “I confess I’ve made this up. I know a great deal but I can’t know everything. So, like me, you’ll have to imagine her..” Didn’t work for me.

Fiction from India Heat and Dust Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
4 stars
I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would, it’s description of rural India was so vivid, I felt I was living there through the British woman’s experiences, who was there to find out more about a scandal involving her step-grandmother. History repeats itself and India has a life changing effect two generations later as well. “India always changes people, and I have been no exception”. The place of women, the interaction between the British Civil Service and the Indian royalty, the difference that fifty years makes to a society – all fascinating and I would definitely recommend.

Latin American Fiction Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel Garcia Marquez
4 stars
An odd little book, very surprised at the abruptness of the ending. Would read Marquez again though, brilliant description of the town, it’s characters and great story telling. It just felt like there were a lot more miles left in it when it ended!

TBR 12 Regeneration Pat Barker
4 stars
I’ve read a couple of Pat Barker’s novels before (my dad’s claim to fame is that he taught her A Level English and had to send her out of the classroom for using the f word), and this one, the first of a triology, didn’t disappoint. Mainly about the treatment of shellshock in WW1 and new techniques being used – some horrific – but also interesting bits on the changing role of women and their empowerment through work and the impact on the doctors of treating soldiers and having to decide to send them back to war. Will go back for parts two and three.

TBR 21 Exposure Helen Dunmore
3 stars
I raced through this – it was a real page turner – but felt dissatisfied at the end. There were a lot of plot holes, and I felt some of the characters weren’t developed enough for me to believe the story. A perfectly good, easy to read Cold War thriller though if you like that sort of thing.

Speculative Fiction Divergent Veronica Roth
2 stars
I had to google what speculative fiction was! I have to say I didn’t really like this but it was already on my kindle as a freebie and was a quick read. I appreciated the thought gone into the new world created and it was fast paced and kept my attention. I’ve read other books like it and enjoyed them (e.g. the Hunger Games trilogy) but I don’t think I was in the mood this week (am reading The Gustav Sonata which is amazing and I’d much rather have been reading that!) I don’t think I’ll be picking up books 2 and 3 but am pleased I now know what speculative fiction is (and The Handmaid’s Tale is now on my TBR!)

A book set in London or New York Little Deaths Emma Flint
2 stars
This book frustrated me a lot as it could have been great but the structure wasn’t well thought out – there was very little tension and more revealed in the last few pages than the whole middle section – and the characters were poorly developed and, the males especially, really weak. Disappointing especially because of all the hype!

Historical Crooked Heart Lissa Evans
3 stars
Set in the Second World War a clever but lonely ten year old Londoner is evacuated and the book tells the story of his changing relationship with the slightly dodgy and struggling woman who takes him in, their changing relationship and how they learn to depend on each other and eventually love each other. Heart warming and easy to read and I especially liked the description of North London’s roads and neighbourhoods that were bombed. The plot loses its way somewhat and it didn’t change my life but it was a gentle, comforting read.

Book with dog on cover Dumb Witness Agatha Christie
4 stars
Thank goodness Agatha wrote a book with a dog vaguely involved in the story! Otherwise I would have definitely struggled this week. I love Agatha and her character of Poirot and this story was one I hadn’t seen on television so all good!

TBR 13 Oranges are Not the Only Fruit Jeanette Winterson
2 stars
I wanted to love this book as it is so well thought of but I found it tough going. I did enjoy the mother character, whose religious fanaticism might have seemed extreme, but was entirely believable to me. But I didn’t enjoy the fairy tale asides and I also didn’t really care about or like the protagonist and so I struggled to find it a page turner.

Book by a queer author The Picture Of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
5 stars
Another book I probably wouldn’t have read had it not been for this challenge and good for me to make myself read something classic rather than contemporary. The dialogue was a joy to read, the descriptions of nineteenth century London society vivid and interesting and the story a great one!

Week 1 : (3) African writer
Going Home by Simao Kikamba
225 Pages
Rating: 2.5 stars
The grim and heartbreaking story of an Angolan political refugee & his odyssey through Africa, terminating in Johannesburg, South Africa. A slow and grinding descent into a desperate struggle to survive. Not an easy read & I didn’t enjoy it.

Week 2: (8) TBR 17
ISLAND HOME A Landscape Memoir by Tim Winton
197 pages
Rating: 4 stars
A beautifully produced and illustrated book. Tim Winton’s love song to his home, Australia: the land, the people. His indictment of colonial and post-colonial exploitation of the land and peoples. A clarion call to value and protect the environment and nurture our fragile planet.

Week 2: (8) TBR 17
ISLAND HOME A Landscape Memoir by Tim Winton
197 pages
Rating: 4 stars
A beautifully produced and illustrated book. Tim Winton’s love song to his home, Australia: the land, the people. His indictment of colonial and post-colonial exploitation of the land and peoples. A clarion call to value and protect the environment and nurture our fragile planet.

Week 3: (12) Fiction from India
WHITE MAN FALLING – Mike Stocks
281 pages
Rating: 3 stars
This debut comic novel won the 2006 Goss First Novel Award. Set in Tamil Nadu and featuring Police Sub-Inspector (Retd) R.M. Swaminathan’s unexpected journey into sainthood and also the tricky negotiations to marry off eldest daughter Jodhi. A pressing matter in a family of 6 daughters! A satire on religion, the meaning of life – or perhaps its meaninglessness.

Week 4: (9) TBR 24
CHANGING PLANES – Ursula le Guin
214 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Le Guin at her brilliant imaginative best, as she hops from plane (of existence) to plane, spurred on by horrible episodes of waiting in nasty, noisy, airports. She conjures up different ways of living, different ways of organising society, based on some aspect of our own battered old world. Only in le Guin’s worlds, she sees improved ways of living and being. Go! Ursula le Guin.

Week 5 : (8) Landscape as Character
A DRINK OF DRY LAND – Chris Marais & Julienne du Toit
223 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Wonderful account of driving through the vast spaces of Namibia, from the barren desert of the Kalahari to the Skeleton Coast and the diamond studded Richtersveld and up to the Caprivi Strip – plus many tiny quirky dorpies (tiny towns/villages) in between. The landscape, the people – the indigenous Nama and the Bushmen, the explorers and traders, the settlers – German, Afrikaans and others – a vast land but rich with history, adventure and spectacular wildlife.

Week 6: (2) : A book set in Asia
The Language of Threads – Gail Tsukiyama
275 pages
Rating: 3stars
Sisterhood of the Silk workers – Pei, who entered as an 8 year old , flees China prior to the Japanese invasion in 1938, taking along orphan Jen Li. Story of how the two girls survive life in Hong Kong, the Japanese occupation, and post war life. A lovely story of courage and determination. I enjoyed it.

AJ’s List
1. Six of Crows
2. Interpreter of Maladies
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
4. Pride and Prejudice
5. Change of Heart
6. Now and Not Yet
7. Beautiful Darkness
8. Phantom Horse
9. Sense and Sensibility
10. Divergent
11. Life of Pi
12. Lionboy
13. Lord of the Flies
14. Gods in Alabama
15. Adam
16. Mrs Dalloway17. A Study in Scarlet
18. I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have To Kill You
19. Jack and Jill
20. I Am Malala
21. The Alchemist
22. The Madness Project
23. The Tenth Circle
24. The Fellowship of the Ring
25. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Roll 2: square 19 – British Crime
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers
2 stars
Oh dear. I’m not doing well on enjoyment levels so far. I found this very dull. I guessed the basics of the whodunnit early on and the additional twist at the end wasn’t all that. My first encounter with Dorothy L Sayers and Lord Peter Wimsey in book form and not inspirational.
Still, it’s one more off the TBR.
Full review: https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2016/12/26/the-nine-tailors/

Roll 5: square 37 – TBR #6
Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata
5 stars
It feels rude to try to put into words how beautiful this book is. I’m feeling spell-bound by it. I’ve written a review, but what I want to say is read it and experience it for yourself.
Full review: https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2017/01/14/thousand-cranes/

Roll 6: square 47 – Fiction featuring food
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
4 stars
Bradbury’s delightful coming of age novel features food as allegory. It’s perhaps not as central to the story as the food in a book such as Like Water for Chocolate, or The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, for example, but it’s definitely important. I really enjoyed this book.
Full review: https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2017/01/20/dandelion-wine/

Roll 7: square 51 – Dystopian (ladder to 67)
Notable American Women by Ben Marcus
4 stars
I couldn’t decide between this one and The Flame Alphabet when I got square 51. I’m glad I chose this one. It’s a development from The Age of Wire and String and introduces ideas also explored in Leaving the Sea. I enjoyed it because it covers some serious issues, but it made me wish Ben Marcus was a little less experimental so he wouldn’t put people off reading his books. He’d no doubt say I miss the point.
Full review here: https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2017/01/28/notable-american-women/

Roll 8: square 77 – TBR #23
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
3 stars
Funny and clever in the way she doesn’t quite reveal everything while appearing to be very candid. Sometimes I liked her, sometimes I wanted her to shut up. Mostly I liked her.
Full review here https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2017/02/03/yes-please/

Note for 30/01/2017 roll: I read TBR#23 based on my roll, which moved me 10 from square 67 to square 77. Jen had put me onto square 27 on the board and given me that square’s category.

Roll 9: square 88 – British Psychology
On Flirtation by Adam Phillips
2 stars
I was really looking forward to this, because I thought it was going to be a different book. Turned out to be less about flirtation and more about what Phillips thinks about psychoanalysis.
Full review here: https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/on-flirtation/

Roll 12: square 86 – retelling
The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
3 stars
I hadn’t planned to read this, but it was the only thing I could think of that fitted with this category, and it was in stock at the library. I’m glad I did read it. Winterson has interesting things to say about the original play (The Winter’s Tale) and reworks it in a pacy update.
Full review here https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-gap-of-time/

Roll 13: square 93 – short story collection
Travelling Light by Tove Jansson
4 stars
Square 93 and I saw more of each other than I’d hoped to. Fortunately, I enjoy short story collections and had a couple on my TBR list. Travelling Light is a mix of insight into human nature, from the creepy to the beautiful.
Full review here https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2017/03/08/travelling-light/

4*. A story about 2 couples in post-2nd world war London, told by each of the 4 characters in first person. Also has flash back chapters/sections where each character tells their back story, which sounds confusing but actually works. I loved the characters and this was actually quite a fast read for me considering it was over 500 pages!

3*. A novel set in Paris prior to the French Revolution, following the destruction of les Innocents, a prominent, over-full cemetery that has now started to contaminate the city. I can see why this won the Costa – it has beautiful writing whilst still being engaging and it is an interesting subject (apparently based on a true event) but…the characters were a little too sordid for my liking and the vivid descriptions of the smell from the cemetery were almost physically nauseating. It seems strange to dock stars for the vividity of the writing but it just meant this was a world I wasn’t rushing to get back to.

Week 3: my choice: The Best American Essays, edited by Johnathan Franzen

4*. Thought it would be best to try and finish this before 2017. This is a collection of long form articles from a range of often times obscure magazines that I would never normally read. There are some big names (Joyce Carol Oates) and some I’ve never heard of. As with any collection, there are some hits and misses but it was an opportunity to read about subjects I wouldn’t normally and from authors I haven’t been exposed to. Surprisingly, my favourite essay was The Bonds of Battle by Sebastian Junger which was a fascinating look at PTSD – a subject I didn’t know I was interested in. Would definitely recommend.

2*. I read several Dan Brown books 10 years ago and remember thinking they were all fast-paced and enjoyable. Whilst this is somewhat of a page-turner with some impressive plot twists, I just couldn’t get over the awful writing this time round! My reading was consistently slowed by some involuntary eye rolling! Just terrible. This might be one book where the movie will be better than the book.

2*. I think I went in to this book with unfair expectations. I understood this to be a series of humorous vignettes about the author’s life and aging and was hoping for something like Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed, which I loved. I was disappointed. This was a quick and light read with some mildly humorous stories (can I be that cutting about an author who is now deceased?) but nothing very memorable (I guess I can!). I wouldn’t recommend it.

4* This is the second book I’ve read in the last month based in 18th century France (the other book being Pure by Andrew Miller; see above) and actually mentioned the cemetery that features in Pure several times! This was completely unintentional and the connections were a little spooky! However, this is the better book. Based on a sociopath with an inordinate sense of smell it is a quirky book unlike anything I have read before. The middle got a bit weird (when he started dreaming/imagining about the smell library in his mind) and the end was a little leud which was enough to stop this being a 5* read. Otherwise highly recommended!

I think there is a chance I will complete the board this week. I would love to start from the beginning again if so. Having so much fun!

4*. This was actually probably a 3* read for me but knowing that the author was only about halfway through this novel when she died in Auschwitz, made this novel all the more moving. Knowing that she had likely lived through similar storylines made the book more fascinating than it would otherwise have been. As a novel, I found there to be too many characters to care about them all and maybe this would have benefited from some editing. Although of course fate had other plans. So sad.

5*. An absolutely incredible book. An all time favourite. Have recommended this to 2 people in the last week. I have owned this book for at least 2 years and can’t believe it took me this long to get to it. So glad I did this reading challenge for this book alone. I read another book by this author a couple of years ago (And The Mountains Echoed) and it was good…but this was excellent! Read it!!!!

3*. This is probably a very good thriller – a range of storylines, a fast moving plot – but I think that this just isn’t the right genre for me. It was very graphic and I found it tough to read at times. I read it quite quickly but was ultimately glad it was over so I could get those stories out of my mind.

Week 10: Latin American Fiction: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

3*. Possibly 4* as I thin about it more. I’ve heard this is many peoples favourite book which might have resulted in some unfair expectations. This novel followed multiple generations of a family and I loved that part. However, the multitude of characters all had similar names and I spent the first half of the book constantly flicking back to the family tree at the front to orient myself. I also took a 2 day break from reading at the beginning of the week and had to reread quite a bit to be able to get back into it. However, now at the end, I am still thinking about the book and I wonder if it might grow on me. Definitely interested to read more from this author but hope that the next book isn’t quite such hard work.

4*. I do not typically enjoy science fiction or fantasy but was encouraged to try this by the great reviews. I really enjoyed it. It is about a black woman who is repeatedly transported back in time to a slave plantation. The ending of the book was revealed near the beginning and I worried that the only way the story could reach that conclusion was with some eye-rolling plot twists. But it all came together in a way that seemed natural. Glad I read this and I almost certainly wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for this challenge.

3*. This is a story about a group of women who were all affected by the life of one man, now deceased. I’m so disappointed I didn’t love this more. I really liked the premise and the group of women were fascinating. As expected from Toni Morrison, the writing was incredible. However, the connections between the women were initially cryptic which I eventually found frustrating and had to resort to the Internet to help me out. And when one of the characters starts talking to a painting, this fell to a 3* read for me.

4*. I didn’t realize I was interested in octopuses until I read this book. Really interesting nonfiction read about one woman’s love and learning about octopuses. I thought there was a good mix of science and personal interest and I loved seeing the photos at the end of the book – just wish there was more. I thought the stories of the people who worked in the aquarium where she visited was a little out of place although I was surprisingly still interested.

Week 1 completed
I posted my review link in the wrong place so having a second attempt. My book was Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata – rather short but what it lacked in pages it made up in depth. Here’s my review …..https://bookertalk.com/2016/12/18/snow-country/

Week 3 – ‘debut novel’ completed
I read The Murder of Halland which though isnt the author’s debut in her own language, is the first and only one to be translated into English. That’s my excuse and if it doesnt fit the bill, it doesnt matter because it was such a great read.

I started out reading Player Piano, Vonnegut’s first book and though ostensibly it was set in an “alternate future” it hit too close to home. A bunch of people’s jobs taken over by machines leaving them all unemployed. It was depressing and lacked Vonnegut’s trademark humor – though it totally hit the nail on the head. (Struggle between the 1% of the rest of the world.)

I abandoned it for another all too realistic version of an alternative future in 1984. I know I read this in school, but only remembered the major highlights. EVERYBODY should be reading this book right now. I know it’s old news for everybody, but it’s really brilliant .. adding it to my 2016 favorites list. So many parallels to what is going on right now, how easily we could slip into a world like this. How far have we slipped already? Will be writing a longer review with quotes on GR.

This book was like Around the World in 80 Days if the starting point was going AWOL from the Vietnam war. It was a good story, but it went back and forth between character studies of soldiers and the story so it broke the flow and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have . Not as good as O’Brien’s other books, yet I’d still recommend it.

I think Maus I suffered from expectation syndrome. This book, to me, packed more of a punch. I may also be that I was recently at Auschwitz so I have more context. Regardless, I “get it” way more from this book and found it really well done.

Jen’s List
1. Uprooted by Novik
2. Ready Player one
3. The year of the flood by Atwood
4. Fates and Furies by Groff
5. The Turner House by Flournoy
6. The Mothers
7. The Fifth Season
8. Your Heart is a muscle the size of a fist
9. Mr. Fox
10. Tuesday Nights in 1980
11. Shylock is my Name
12. Hagseed by Atwood
13. Hild
14. The Noise of Time
15. A Torch Against the Night
16. A Darker Shade of Magic
17. The Association of small bombs
18. Voices from Chernobyl
19. Nora Webster
20. Black Swan Green
21. Ancillary Sword by Leckie
22. Heartless by Meyer
23. Open City
24. Sexing the Cherry
25. The Doubter’s Almanac

Roll 1: Horror. Read The Night Film by Pessl. 4 stars. I enjoyed this book and it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. It wasn’t really horror but was tagged horror in Goodreads and Library thing. An interesting blend of thriller and literary fiction and well written. The app seems to have gone missing so I read the book without the extra interactive material

Yes, the game will continue until March even after the first person reaches the end of the board because there are lots of other prizes. I did several test trials and wasn’t expecting winners so early (although there are quite a few chutes at the top so we shall see). Glad you’re reading good books!

Lol, if you want you can restart the board if you get to square 100 before the end of the game. That way I will keep rolling for you 😁. I’m surprised people haven’t gotten more chutes yet. When I did trial runs there were lots of chutes

This weeks roll present a problem for me. I landed on African American Science fiction or fantasy but since I don’t read sci fi or fantasy my choices are article. When you then add in the requirement of an African American author it makes it impossible. Any suggestions?

hmm, I’m not sure what to suggest to you. Some of the categories are fairly narrow but hopefully serve to get readers to try to find something new that they wouldn’t have thought to try. Maybe try speculative fiction rather than traditional science fiction? There are several African American authors who have written plays or novellas that you could try and find in the library. I think the fantasy part would be harder for you if you dislike fantasy. At least with science fiction, you could conceivably find a book that isn’t too odd. Not sure what to suggest. You could either opt to stop on this square and throw in the towel (so the game ends and you’ll be on this square as your final square) or you could try and ask for suggestions for books from other readers who might be able to recommend something to you liking. Below is one link with some ideas. I will look around and see if I can find any recommendations for books that aren’t your traditional sci-fi/fantasy

Thanks for this and your other suggestions. Since my goal this year is to read only what I already own for the next six months I cant go buying anything new. Unfortunately therefore I’ll have to “throw in the towel” as you describe it.

and final suggestion… maybe something like Kindred which isn’t solely science fiction but a blend of genres that examines legacy of slavery? I know someone else read that here (although may not have loved it).

I’ll vouch for Kindred! I’m not a big fantasy fan, but I can usually handle sci-fi a bit better. Kindred includes some time travel, which is what would make it “sci-fi”. It made my top 10 books the year I read it! 🙂

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Jen’s Rating system

★ Hated it & no redeeming additional qualities noted. Recommend avoiding it.
★★ Disliked it, may have 1 redeeming quality (writing style, novelty, etc).
★★★ Liked it or may have a few interesting qualities.
★★★★ Really liked it & it has at least a couple interesting qualities.
★★★★★ Loved almost everything about it. Only a few, if any, minor limitations noted.

Book Worm’s rating system

★ Bah I really hated this would not even pass this to my worst enemy
★★ I really didn't like this but would consider giving it to my worst enemy for vengeful purposes
★★★ this was an enjoyable way to pass the time not great not horrendous
★★★★ really enjoyed this book there was something about it that made me think
★★★★★ wow I loved this book I am now out recommending it to all my friends, will keep to re read even though I have banned re reads